Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen, and Bre Blair
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 105 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2014
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This is an American comedy-drama about four persons, who have been friends since childhood. Age has taken its toll. Archie (Morgan Freeman) is recovering from a stroke. Paddy (Robert De Nero) is a widower, who is depressed by the loss of his wife. Sam (Kevin Kline) suffers from a low sex drive and has become bored by life. All three go to a bachelor party for a fourth member of their group, Billy (Michael Douglas), who is a millionaire playboy and about to marry Lisa (Bre Blair), a girl over thirty years younger than himself. The four travel to Las Vegas to party in high style in Aria, one of the city’s luxury hotels, so that they can have one last celebration together.
Conflicts involving the four of them muddy the waters of their relationships. Billy, for example, failed to attend the funeral of Paddy’s wife. Billy had a reason, which Paddy doesn’t know, but Paddy hasn’t forgiven him for the slight and has harboured a grudge against him for a long time.
The film is a sentimental excursion into the fantasies of males worried about their age, and the setting of Las Vegas, with its garishness and opulence, provides an escapist background to the film’s human issues. Las Vegas, as the film presents it, lives up to its reputation as a city for gambling, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. The main comedy thrust of the movie comes from four men, well beyond the prime of their life, trying to cope with times past and the pace of a fast city that has gained its reputation by being always at play. The men reminisce, explore moments of joy and sadness, and experience happiness and regret, and they do all of this in a drink-filled 2-day weekend, while partying wildly.
The energy of Las Vegas highlights the poignancy of the drama among the four. There is a stand-out performance by Mary Steenburgen, who plays a mature songstress, Diana, who was once a tax attorney. Billy and Paddy are both attracted to her, and she has strong feelings for one of them. She brings to the film character and humour, wonderful comic timing, and a winning smile.
The moral messages of the film are edifying, but presented in Hollywood style. Good friendships and true love survive, and the film communicates that age shouldn’t influence or affect the need to forgive. Paddy comes to realise, for example, that his friendship with Billy means more to him than his resentment about how Billy has behaved in the past. However, Las Vegas is always there to provide the film with a glossy touch. It seems a perfect city for demonstrating that growing old has pleasurable and joyful moments, but the values that Las Vegas is meant to typify, as the film displays them, don’t give a lot of in-depth substance to the dynamics of the emotions among the four. But these four are seasoned, polished performers and they take hold of their roles with infectious enthusiasm.
This is an entertaining film suitable for people, who like to fantasise about life in the past, that is different from the present. The film has a number of good comic moments, and some terrific one-liners, such as Diana’s comment that “this is the first bachelor party that could be covered by Medicare”. There is legendary talent in this film and the film offers the viewer four great actors trying their professional best to outwit each other.
At its core, this is essentially a good-hearted, bonding comedy about ageing. It is meant to help alleviate some of the frustrations of growing old, and it is directed mainly to provide enjoyable entertainment. The movie fills a gap in life’s developmental cycle by finding humour in the ageing process, but it is also a comical version of men’s night out, when the males who are involved are trying to behave much younger than they really are.
The movie is funny and enjoyable, though a little formulaic. Despite its preoccupation with the problems of growing old, which it does well in comic style, this is an age-friendly film that is bound to have wide, popular appeal.
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